Steven Buck thought that taking advantage of a Government scheme to make his home more energy efficient would help to slash his bills.
But one year later, parts of his house have been left looking like “a bomb has gone off” due to the poor work, he claims. He agreed for builders to replace his gas boiler with a heat pump as well as adding new internal wall insulation, and solar panels.
But he is now considering spending £3,000 to re-install his original boiler, claiming that “cowboy” contractors “wrecked” his home, leaving him with thousands of pounds worth of damage.
“They always say never trust something that’s too good to be true, well I’ve well and truly learnt my lesson”, Mr Buck told The i Paper.
The homeowner, who lives in East Bridge in Suffolk, is just one of more than 30,000 homes found to have been victim of shoddy workmanship under two inherited schemes since 2022.
Mr Buck was told he qualified for assistance under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme, which was designed to help low-income households reduce their energy usage by funding changes to homes like cavity wall insulation, the installation of heat pumps, and the replacement of inefficient boilers.
Major energy companies fund the scheme and pay contractors to carry out the work.
The second scheme, the Great British Insulation Scheme, is similar to ECO4 but delivered single insulation measures to deliver improvements to the least energy-efficient homes.
Contractors left thousands of pounds worth of damage including a broken bed, laptop, and stained carpetsThe National Audit Office this week found that 98 per cent of homes with external wall insulation installed under the £4bn ECO4 scheme – introduced in 2013 under the former Conservative and Lib Dem coalition government – require work to correct major issues, and nearly a third of those with internal wall insulation also need repairs.
Mr Buck said he was contacted by a company called Energy Smart and told he qualified for works under ECO4. “They talk me all through it. They push me right from the word go that they ‘want to come in next week’. I reluctantly agreed and I wish I never had.”
He explained: “They ripped out all the pipes and when the plumbers came in they asked where all the pipework was. They trashed my son’s bedroom whilst he was recovering from a car accident in hospital.
“They dug through my patio and garden steps to put in the solar panels, but never replaced it. It’s absolutely atrocious – the worst work I’ve ever seen.”
Mr Buck counts damage to his carpets, his son’s £8,000 home-built computer, and an oak bed amongst items destroyed damaged in the building works.
Mr Buck said “cowboy builders” wrecked his homer Contractors dug up the patio in the garden to install solar panels but did not repair the damageAdditionally, Mr Buck, who was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer in 2016, said the electric heat pump that was installed was the wrong type for his house, meaning that he can be left without hot water regularly for up two days.
square NEWS My wall insulation will cost £120k to fix – it has made my home worthless
Read More
“I’ve hard-wired the immersion so that we have the hot water we need. The electric bill will be worse this winter because now we’ve got this immersion we didn’t have to have”, the homeowner explained, “It hasn’t helped me with the bills, they’ve just come in and wrecked the house”.
He added that he was now considering having a boiler put back in his home for the cost of £3,000.
Mr Buck said: “The stress is unbelievable. I think it’s knocked years off my life.”
In January, the Government suspended 39 businesses from installing new solid wall insulation in people’s homes after finding widespread cases of poor-quality insulation under the inherited ECO4 and GBIS schemes.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and Energy Smart, were approached for comment.
Hence then, the article about cowboy builders wrecked my home installing a heat pump it ll cost me 3k to fix was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Cowboy builders wrecked my home installing a heat pump – it’ll cost me £3k to fix )
Also on site :
- Road over canal in Penkridge closed as bridge reportedly collapses
- Disneyland Paris New Year’s Eve Fireworks Live Stream 2025–2026: Watch Here
- Police and air ambulance attend 'medical emergency' incident in Stourbridge